Magic the Gathering: Not Just a Game
by demonslayer206
Summary: In a place where magic is a common game, one girl learns something because of an event at a Magic Expo. It's not just a game anymore. With no place left to go, what will Diron, Nick, and the wounded Kari do?chapter 6 up
1. Trouble in the Mall

Magic the Gathering: Not Just a Game

Note: I do not own Magic the Gathering or any creatures and players related to it. I do, however, own the characters in the story as well as any place that is made up, I hope.

Chapter 1: Goblin Raid

The mall in Kirten was busy as usual. All the stores were open and customers were walking from store to store to check out or purchase merchandise. The place always had more than 500 people walking through it, especially in the middle of the day. However, today was the one day that there would be even more people within the place. Card day it is sometimes called, commonly known as the card expo amongst the common folk. Anyone interested in any card collecting hobby comes when this day arrives. There are the old baseball cards that have existed since forever, portraying the famous players of the ages on them with history. Children ran around with their Yu-gi-oh and Pokemon decks, seeking out stronger creatures for them as well as battling it out amongst themselves. Needless to say, Magic loomed as well.

Several card dealers had a large assortment of cards displayed behind glass, so as to keep potential thieves away from the sacred merchandise. Within those cases, Magic cards having existed throughout the years were displayed, many of them powerful cards in their own rights which are really hard to find. Boxes of unopened packs long out of print were occasionally with these dealers as well, as well as themed decks and packs from all the sets, from Tempest to Kamigawa. One such dealer was looking at a potential customer, who was looking through the glass for a card. It only took him a moment before he recognized the girl. She had bought several legendary artifact and creature cards and an Onslaught deck the year before. "May I help you, miss?" he asked politely to the brown haired girl.

She looked up at the shopkeeper with her green eyes. She is a rather slim girl with a mild bust, but enough to show she truly is one. She wore a white shirt with a pair of blue jeans, finished with a pair of black shoes. Her hair was long, having grown out to just below her shoulder blades, while her skin is lightly tanned. "Um…" she started, "do you have a 'Circle of Protection: Green'?"

The keeper looked through the glass. "One second," he replied as he looked at his stock hidden behind the table, while the girl herself chose to look at the cards still in the case while she waited. "Sorry, don't have that one," he said a minute later.

She saddened slightly. "I see…" she replied as she continued to scan the case, until a pair of reddish-orange eyes of a creature caught her attention. She lifted her eyebrows in confusion. "What is that card?" she asked, pointing to the one.

"Lets see," the vender said, unlocking the case so as to take the card in question out and examine it. " 'Darksteel Colossus'," he read, before letting her get a better look at it.

" 'Darksteel'?" she asked as she looked at it. 'Darksteel Colossus. Artifact creature. Mana Cost: 11 colorless. "That's a little expensive…" Trample. Darksteel Colossus is indestructible ( "Destroy" effects and lethal Damage don't destroy it.) "What…I gotta check this rule." If Darksteel Colossus would be put into a graveyard from anywhere, reveal Darksteel Colossus and shuffle it into its owner's library instead.' She nodded her head as she read it silently, then her eyes shot up when she reached the last thing she needed to know, how strong it was. ' 11/11! This thing's a monster!' She thought carefully about how it could possibly help her deck out before looking at the vender. "How much does this guy cost?" she asked in a surprised voice, still having not gotten over how strong it is.

The vender pulled out a book, which the girl recognized as a card magazine focused on games like Magic and Yu-gi-oh. That was the book the venders looked at to find certain cards and their prices in real life. "Lets see….this guy is about $14 in the book," he started. The girl was shocked, for she had encountered cards that weren't nearly like that one and were more expensive. "I was going to sell him for seven, but for you, only $5." She couldn't hide her smile, pulling out her wallet and taking out a five dollar bill. The exchange was done within ten seconds.

"Thank you, sir," the girl said as she handed the money over. The vender nodded in return and placed the Darksteel Colossus into her hand with its own hard plastic case as he accepted the bill from her. She nodded her thanks again before leaving, looking at the new card she acquired before pulling out her deck box and safely putting the creature inside. 'This card isn't as great as what I was looking for,' she thought with a grin. 'But it seems to be pretty bad for its enemies anyway. After looking it up online can I figure out how he'd do in my deck.' She removed her cards from the deck box, looking through her collection of green and white cards that she called her deck. 'He's expensive, but Mirari's Wake can easily rectify the price problem with interest, although I could get burned if I'm not careful.' She looked through her deck, locating her favored cards, the three circles of protection she currently had, her runes of protection from white, Lieutenant Kirtar, and Major Teroh. 'Well, these cards are definitely staying. If I get the green circle, I can protect myself from all the non-artifact creatures. As for these two,' she looked at her two Aven legends, 'I just can't see this deck without them.' She continued moving through the mall as she checked her cards she brought with her.

Meanwhile, the other aspect of such conventions was taking place. Because of how many players actually show up to purchase new cards to strengthen their decks, they often were prepared to actually test their new decks out against one another. One such battle was taking place, and the other players were checking to see what was going on. Both players had been playing the game on and off for several years, and their decks varied greatly. The one kid was a young man with brown eyes and a mess of black hair only about a half inch long per strand. Standing about 5'8", he was rather lacking in the muscle department. His attire consisted of a red t-shirt with a pair of black jeans and black sneakers. His deck consisted of nothing but red cards and featured a Mirari artifact legend from Odyssey to augment his spell casting. His opponent is a brown haired, brown eyed teenager. His hair was relatively shorter than the one boy and he wore clothes that were completely black. His deck is a rainbow deck, which was armed with the strongest monsters he could find backed up my cheap creatures to back him up. Both players were halfway through the game. The red player had his Mirari out and was able to do damage with his spells, but his creatures were either waiting for the chance to strike or else were already dead, considering the opponent wasn't afraid to lose his creatures to defend himself. The rainbow player had only a Werebear out , provided someone forgot about his Treva, the dragon of recovery from the Invasion block. Although on the defensive, he did get a few attacks through before summoning Treva.

"This fight's gonna be close," someone from the crowd said.

"Nah," another said, "Diron needs just a few more spells to wipe that guy out."

"Are you kidding?" another questioned. "Nick there has Treva out, and that guy has no air defense. Won't take long for him to get in the lead still."

"Alright," the boy named Nick said, smirking as he drew his next card. "First, I'll put a Swamp down," he placed the said card into the swamp pile he had, "Then I'll use the Werebear's ability to add another mana to my mana pool." He then grabbed his deck and started looking though it.

Diron glared at the player. "What the hell are you doing looking through your deck?" he asked in an irritated tone.

"Doing what the card said," he replied, pulling out another forest land from his library. "Adding another green mana to my mana pool."

Most of the crowd groaned in irritation, while Diron's irritation hit its peak. "That is NOT how that effect works!"

Nick glared back. "Say what?"

"The were bear's effect states that he adds another mana to the pool by paying his ability cost of tapping him," Diron replied cooly. "In essence, the were bear creates the mana from his body, not brings out another forest from the library."

"That makes no sense," Nick shot back. "The card says to add the mana to the pool!" He was starting to get angered, having never been told how to use a card before.

"How about I put it in terms that your noob brain can understand," Diron said. "The were bear ACTS like a forest for the turn he uses his effect. Tapping any land sends its respective mana into the mana pool."

Nick was about to say something in return when everyone heard the sound of someone screaming. Everyone turned to see something that couldn't be possible. There was a terrified mall rat running from what appeared to be a Goblin Raider, complete with its mallot. There was already blood on the hammer, but some people didn't see it as such. "What the hell? Who the hell dresses themselves up as a monster?" one of the crowd asked. The Raider charged at a stand and swung his hammer, the vender barely having time to get out of the way as his stand was pulverized by the weapon. More people were screaming and running from what happened, and the crowd dispersed, leaving the two combatants alone.

Diron glared at Nick, who was pale as a ghost. "oh no…" he muttered, quickly packing up his cards into his deck. "May as well end the battle, or else our lives may end," Nick said in irritation.

"Not a bad idea," Diron said cooly, "but it isn't wise for one of your creatures to be running around raising havoc!"

Nick's eyes widened slightly, before cursing. "Shit, you're a wizard too?" Diron nodded. "Dammit!"

"Quit swearing and do something before someone gets hurt!" Nick nodded and sough out something he could use to stop his creature. As he was doing so, a girl walked into the area, preoccupied with her cards. She didn't notice the chaos around her until someone bumped into her in a panic, knocking her down.

"Hey, watch it!" she yelled as she gathered her dropped cards, when her eyes locked with the Goblin Raider. "What the hell?"

Nick noticed this. "Hey, you. MOVE IT!" The girl didn't need telling twice, for the raider lifted his mallot and was charging her, and it looked like he wanted to smash her with his weapon. She jumped to her feet and ran, holding the cards to her chest as she tried to get away, while the Goblin smashed where she was laying a moment ago. It lifted the weapon again and chased her. She just continued to run, not having the time to scream and sure as hell wasn't looking back. "What the hell, it never chased anything before!" Nick said in shock. He looked through his deck, searching for something to use to stop the Goblin without causing any more panic. "Shit!" Diron was chasing after the creature, and Nick was trailing behind.

The girl was still running, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. 'That creature,' she thought. 'That thing is too real to be a guy in costume…' She looked behind her and saw that the goblin was gaining on her. She didn't have a chance to do much of anything else before she tripped again, her deck scattering on the floor. She struggled to get her cards back together quickly when she saw the creature standing right at her, his mallet held high. She screamed in fear with her eyes shut, not noticing that one of the cards she was holding was glowing white.

Nick had finally found a card. "Got it," he said triumphantly, holding the card to his side. "I Summon Kamahl, the Pit Fighter!" he said focusing only on the card as he ran. The card glowed red before a red vortex opened up next to him. Then a man stepped through the vortex, wielding a sword in one hand and wearing a layer of worn red armor on his chest, shoulder, and feet. His privates were covered by a creature's hide held up by a belt. He stood over six feet tall with no hair on his head, his eyes sharp.

Diron saw this and glared at Nick. "Its bad enough you summoned a monster with your rage," he said, "You could at least summon a creature that doesn't carry visible weaponry or else just use a spell on the thing!" Nick was about to shout back when they both saw a white flash, blinding them temporarily. When the effect of the flash wore off, they saw the girl and the goblin, yet they weren't alone anymore. Another creature had appeared, blocking the goblin's mallet with his staff. With a swift motion, the new creature thrusted his weapon up to knock the goblin off balance before he went ahead and smashed his staff through the creature's chest. The goblin screamed in pain as it turned to ash and vanished. The creature could now be seen clearly. It stood over seven feet tall and was clad in armor on his torso. His feet had reversed knee joints and feet resembling a bird, as did his 'hands' which held his staff. Wings protruded from the creature's back, and his head was that of a bird. His entire body was a mess of feathers, and his red eyes were sharp and checking the area for another threat. The girl opened her eyes, thinking she was dead, only to see something she couldn't believe.

"Teroh.." she said softly. The creature, the legendary aven warrior Teroh, looked behind him at the girl. He nodded before a white circle appeared below him. In an instant, he glowed white and was dragged into the circle before disappearing completely, leaving behind only a single feather. She looked in shock at where Teroh stood before collapsing where she was and passing out. Nick and Diron moved quickly to the girl, the armored man following them. Diron collected the cards she dropped while Nick made sure she was ok.

"How is she?" Diron asked as he picked up her cards, noticing some of the cards she had.

"She's fine," Nick replied. "She's just out cold right now."

"Good," Diron said. "It would seem whoever summoned Teroh saved both your asses."

Nick glared at him, knowing full well he was right. They didn't need to worry about someone listening in on them, for they were speaking softly on that subject. He turned his attention back to the girl when he noticed the card in her hand. He took the card and looked at it, his eyes widening. "Hey!"

"What now?" Diron said in irritation as he finished collecting her deck.

Nick held up the card to Diron, revealing the image of Teroh. "I think she saved herself."

That is it for now. I apologise if anything seems wrong in this fic, this is the first time I'm writing a Magic story. Several words I must say.

Yes, I have encountered someone that misunderstood the were bear's effect like that

No, I'm not well aware of all the cards in the game. I'm just using what I know

Yes, someone really did get a Darksteel Colossus for only five bucks, and it really was at an expo.

Hope to hear your comments and reviews on the story so far. I plan on continuing this if you, the readers, actually like it enough. Until then, if there is a then, later.


	2. test

Magic the Gathering: Not Just a Game

Chapter 2: The Test

Diron looked at Nick as if he were a loon. "Her, a wizard?" he asked in amusement. "Don't make me laugh. Her having that card in her hand had to be coincidence."

"We can't just ask whoever else has one 'Hey, did you save that girl's life?'" Nick countered, slipping the girl's Major Teroh into her deck. "Besides, that summon had far too much power in it for that legend." He stopped a second and looked behind him, noticing that the spectators were keeping their distance. His one eyebrow rose in confusion. "Why the hell are they standing all the way back there?" he asked out loud.

"Try big, bad, and baldy near you," Diron said, not even looking away from the girl. Nick looked to his side and noticed his mistake. Kamahl, the Pit Fighter, was standing right next to him with his sword slung over his one shoulder one handed, and he was glaring at the sixteen year old teen.

"Uh oh…" Nick said, realizing why they were still keeping their distance. Kamahl was nothing like that goblin that was smashing everything in respect to his race. However, who in their right mind would approach a girl that is unconscious when there is a big guy with a sword nearby. "I'll send him back now," he said as he concentrated on his mana flow, trying to generate enough to send the legendary warrior back. That is when things got bad.

"Hold it!" a man said, catching Kamahl, Diron, and Nick's attention and eyes. A security guard was standing there with a gun drawn. "Put the sword down and back away from the girl, or I will open fire." Kamahl glared at the guard, sending chills down the man's spine.

Nick moaned. "Ah shit."

"No," the pit fighter said, turning to face the guard and started walking towards the man.

"Put the weapon down!" Kamahl ignored the guard and kept walking towards him. "Put it down or I'll put you down!"

Kamahl smirked. "Try it," he challenged. His pace quickened as he dashed for the guard. The guard, on instinct, fired his pistol at the man three times. Screams erupted from the passer bys that were unaware of what was going on, and those screams started to cause a panic. The guard was shocked when he saw that Kamahl had blocked the shots of the pistol with his sword, and now was in his face. His free left hand grabbed the guard's right arm with the gun. "Useless," Kamahl muttered. "Not even worth my time or an honorable death." With that he tightened his grip on the man's hand and gun, until both the bones in his hand and the handle on the gun were crushed. The guard screamed in pain as Kamahl made to leave, before a red circle appeared under him and sucked him in, leaving only a small scorch mark where he stood a moment ago. Everyone was in so much of a panic, no one noticed Diron and Nick leave the mall, the girl draped over Nick's back.

The girl stirred a little bit before she opened her green eyes slowly. She lazily looked at her surroundings before something clicked. "WHAT THE HELL?" she yelled as she shot up and off the bed. "Where the hell am I?" she asked herself as she looked at her surroundings. She tried to recall what she was doing before she awoke here, when she remembered the card expo she was at. She then remembered the Goblin Raider that had come from nowhere and raised a ruckus. "Wait a minute, I was at the mall and…." She remembered seeing Teroh appear from nowhere to save her, disappearing once the goblin was dead. "…I passed out," she said in shock. She heard someone approaching from behind her, turning to see a young man about her age standing at the door.

"Seem you're awake now," Diron said, rubbing his offended ear. He was relatively surprised when the girl glared at him angrily.

"Where have you taken me?" she asked, but her anger was evident in her voice.

"Someplace safe," Diron replied. "You suffered from an attack by a man that was dressed up as a creature." She didn't stop glaring. "We rescued you from the mall when you passed out from the experience."

"How stupid do you think I am?" she yelled at him, her hands clenched into fists. "That thing wasn't some asshole in a costume, it was REAL!" She stormed towards the young man, determined to get past him. "You also didn't save me, it was another creature that shouldn't exist that helped!"

Diron nodded and chuckled. "Well, seems I can't lie to you and pray you thought it was all a trick from your mind," he said. He then held out a deck of cards. "I believe you dropped this." She looked down at the deck and noticed the deck was upside down, revealing her Major Teroh card.

"My deck?" she asked, taking the deck from his hands and scanned it to make sure all her cards were there. She sighed in mild relief when she saw that all her cards, including her new Darksteel Colossus, were accounted for. "There all here," she said in a soft voice.

"I'm rather surprised," Diron said. "The deck seems effective in theory, but has several flaws. Among them is the fact that you rely only on the Odyssey block cards." She glared at him again.

"I recall you saying 'we rescued you.' Who's the other?"

Nick poked his head out from the door edge. "That would be me," he said matter of factly. "The name's Nick." He then pointed his thumb at the other boy. "Mr. Cold here is better known as Diron."

She frowned again. "I'm outta here," she said in irritation, forcing her way through the two and seeking a route to the door.

Diron merely smirked. "Now's a good time to administer the test," he said, pulling out his own deck and searching for a card. Nick looked at him questionably before turning pale.

"You're not doing what I think you're doing, are you?"

"You were nagging that she saved herself with that Teroh card in her hand," he replied, pulling the card he was looking for out of his deck. "Don't worry, she won't be hurt badly, just enough to test your theory." Before Nick could say anything more, a burst of flames emerged beside Diron as a Paradic Firecat was summoned. The creature moved on four paws with flames all around it, its fiery eyes looking at his master before running off.

The girl had found a door and was in the backyard. It wasn't bad, considering that yard had only three sides. The house itself covered one side, while the fence covered another. The third one was a line of trees, making it an easy place to enter and exit the yard at will. She was about to enter the woods to find her way home before a flash of fire caught her eye.

She barely had time to dodge as the Firecat charged by her and blocked her way. She froze in fear before the cat charged again. She ducked and rolled away as it came charging in again, its one flaming claw getting her arm slightly . She screeched in pain and tried to grab her arm, feeling the head being generated from her wound. 'Not again. This thing is real too!' The cat hissed at her before charging again. She got out of the way, but looked in shock as the cat anticipated the move and moved to get her. She had no way of evading this time, for she was still about to recover from her evasive move. She freaked again, just like last time, when a white circle appeared at her side. Just when the firecat was about to hit her, it was tackled to the side by a mass of feathers. The girl looked in shock at the ball of creatures that was at her side, before both creatures split themselves from the ball. The cat glared menacingly at the bird soldier, the same one that had protected her from the goblin. "What the he…Teroh?" The cat charged at the warrior, who blocked it with his staff. The impact was hard enough for the warrior to fall onto his back, his feathers burning slightly from the flaming paws of the cat while its teeth were kept at bay with the staff mere inched from the major's beak. He then thrusted a taloned foot into the cat, knocking it off of him while burning his talons in the process. He got back onto his feet and prepared to attack again when a voice snapped everyone in the yard away from a battle.

"Firecat, cease attack," Diron said from the backdoor. The cat nodded at him before disappearing in a bright burst of flame. Teroh glared at the newcomer, his singed staff held in front of him. "Congratulations," he said to the girl.

She looked at him in confusion. "Congratulations?" she said. "For what?"

Diron approached her, mindful of Teroh's watchful glare. "You passed the test."

She glared at him as well. "Test? You call sending some weird fiery cat at me a test? A test for what?"

"Why, being a wizard, of course," he replied.

"What?" she said in a long, resounding 'a.'

Nick arrived, grateful that Diron hadn't hurt the girl at all. "What he means is, you are like us," he replied to her. "You are among a few people that have the ability to summon creatures from the dimension where Magic the Gathering is real."

She looked at them both as if they each had grown a new head, then she laughed. "It was all a joke," she said before laughing again. "This whole thing was a joke, wasn't it? That cat of yours, it was only some wild animal dressed like a card creature."

It was Diron's turn to glare at her. "Then explain why one of your cards is standing right next to you." She stopped laughing when she turned to Teroh, who was currently eying her curiously. She walked closer to the creature and touched his arm gently. She turned white in fear when she realized that it really was Major Teroh standing there.

"It isn't a joke…" she said. "I'm one of these…wizards you mentioned?"

"Yes," Diron said, fiddling with his deck. "And Quite frankly, I've never seen a rookie with that kind of power before. Normal people lose control of a Legendary warrior on their first few attempts, and yet Teroh protected you loyally both times when you're life was at stake." She shook her head, trying to absorb the information she was getting from the boy while also ignoring her sudden fatigue. Instead, she fell onto her knees and hands. "….well, you would need some work," he said upon noticing this.

Nick instantly was near her and lifted her up, before the business end of Teroh's staff hovered inches from his face. "Teroh, stop." The soldier blinked in confusion before withdrawing his staff, while Nick suffered from the fact that he would need to change his underwear. She looked at Nick and nodded her thanks at helping her back to her feet, then looked at Diron. "What do you mean, 'I'd need some work?'"

Diron smirked. "Quite simply, I can teach you how to effectively control the mana at your disposal, thus allowing you to summon these creatures and use spells at will. Currently, you only seem to be able to when your life's in danger." He pulled out a card and used it, summoning the firecat back to life. "With training, you could bring them to life as well."

She looked at the two people in shock before looking at Teroh thoughtfully. He looked back at her and bowed before a circle appeared under him and dragged him away, another feather being left behind. She then looked back at the two. "So, how do I train?"

Nick stepped up. "We can teach you how to. Before we begin though, it would be helpful to give us your real name first."

The girl smiles mildly. "My name's Kari."

That is chapter two. I have a few reviews for chapter one, so I'll cover those first.

Vin-the-Mazoku: well, you got your wish. Here's the second chapter for you, and a third will be on its way.

Arrathir: Thanks for the review. The story will continue as long as there are people who wish to read it. I'm keeping an eye on your story as well while I write my own, so as not to stray down an already traveled path.

Magnificent the Destroyer Lord: Thanks for the review and the advice.

Furthermore, LuChao has asked if he could be the proofreader for this fic as well as offering his help with it. I have accepted his request, so everyone thank him for the corrections on both this chapter and the last one, as well as his continued help in completing the story.

Alright. Next chapter, Kari learns how to control mana as well as the revelation of the decks, till then.


	3. Necromancer

Magic the Gathering: Not Just a Game

Chapter 3:

A distance away from Kirten in a dark room, a small group of people dressed in dark robes met. The room seemed ancient in appearance, as if it were from the medieval ages. The only source of light was a series of candles around the room, casting an eerie glow on all those present. One was on his knees in pain, for he was the target of a dark spell that the leader had used. The cloaked man was gasping for air, trying to recover from the effects of the spell. "Explain to me how the hell you FAILED to eliminate the wizard of red mana!" the leader demanded, a single eye visible from under his robes glowing red.

"You said not to use one of my creatures, for they would attract attention and I would be traced," the man replied painfully. "I encountered him battling another wizard, one that controlled all the mana types in existence, in the simple card version. During their battle, the opponent let his rage get the better of him and caused a rouge summoning. The area was crowded with people, so they wouldn't have summoned anything to eliminate the goblin without attracting attention."

The leader grunted. "I figured as much, and it did seem a good plan," he agreed, "but that still doesn't explain why he is still alive!"

"…I gave it a silent suggestion, then let the goblin raise hell, knowing that controlling it would draw attention to me." He sneered. "That damned fool of a goblin got interested in attacking a girl that locked eyes with it instead of trying to go after the two wizards. The next thing I know, an aven warrior appears out of nowhere and slays the goblin."

The leader eyeballed him. "You are as proficient with tracking mana as any other wizard. Did you sense where the mana controlling that aven came from?" he said threateningly.

The man shook. "I did sense it, but it disappeared as quickly." He fumbled with his thoughts. "I think the girl may have summoned it, but I sensed no mana control from her, let alone any source of it from her."

The leader glared at him. "Let me get this straight," he sneered. "You believe that an ordinary girl summoned that creature?"

"Yes, and it seemed that it wasn't just a regular aven," the man replied, still shaking. "The creature that defeated the goblin was Major Teroh of the Aven Order."

The leader frowned. It was making very little sense. No normal human could ever hope to summon any spell or creature at all. Even more, Major Teroh is a legend of his race, and all legendary creatures and artifacts require a great deal of experience and control to command. "Now tell me, even when the goblin failed, why didn't you act?" he asked in a threatening voice.

The man gulped. "The ruckus was enough to attract security to the scene, only to encounter Kamahl with his Mirari sword. The warrior guarded the wizards as they escaped. I did nothing to avoid exposing myself."

"I want you to go back and deal with the wizard of red mana. Hunt him down. Eliminate him," he snarled. "If anyone gets in your way, eliminate them as well. Use any means necessary. We can't afford him showing up and interfering with out plans. Don't even think of returning without his carcass in tow, or you will end up as the wizard should be. NOW GO!" The man shakily got up and walked away at a fast pace, leaving the room within thirty seconds.

He looked at the circle of loyal subjects still in the room. All of them are adept wizards, and each one of them have control of mana in varying forms. He then looked at another one of the wizards in the room, locking his red eyes with the wizard's yellow ones. "I want you to follow him, make sure he does his job. Report to me when he is done or is killed." the figure nodded and walked away. He then looked at the remaining wizards in the room. "Now that that's out of the way, lets get back to the plans."

Diron and Nick were sitting not too far away from where Kari was. She was sitting cross-legged and had her green eyes closed, and all she was working on was focusing on her control of mana. Both wizards were impressed as to how quickly she had caught onto focus, for a small aura of mana surrounded her. However, it flickered a lot, for she couldn't keep control of it very much.

"Don't you find it strange," Diron said to Nick in a low voice.

"Find what strange?"

"This girl," he replied. "Even though it isn't much, she seems to have some limited control over her mana flow, and has maintained that little control for almost a half hour. Even more, she managed it within the first ten minutes of meditating."

"So," Nick said. "We both agreed she has quite a bit of potential on her. Maybe she's a fast learner and good listener."

Diron nodded with a grim look on his face. "True, but we honestly shouldn't be training her now. She's supposedly quite old to be learning how to use mana. The fact she has this much potential without prior training may point out that she is…." he paused and thought. "…I don't really know what. She currently shows almost as much potential as any child of six, yet she's three times that age."

"What are you saying?" Nick asked questionably. "That her current potential could have been three times greater at six than now?"

"Exactly," Diron said. "That is far too much mana potential for a six year old, and that is only a rating that an experienced mana user could achieve, such as me."

"You're saying it as if it were a bad thing," Nick said back. "This isn't like Jedi training. She can't necessarily turn evil because of her age." Diron shot him a look for even using Star Wars as reference, shook his head, then looked back at the girl. Her aura seemed to have gotten a little brighter as they had spoken. "Besides, something's been bothering me as well."

"What would that be?"

"The goblin," Nick replied. "It was mine, yet it acted differently from others that I have…accidentally…summoned as rogues. They would normally go after anything until it leaves their sight, then go after another." He looked at Kari. "That one locked eyes with her and chased her, even when she got out of his sight and ran through the crowd. I think something was controlling it."

Diron frowned. "Couldn't be. I sensed only our auras in the mall."

"Well, I think something was controlling it, or else was 'suggested' to attack something." He shook his head. "I'm not too sure why."

Diron shook his head. "Forget about it, the goblin probably wanted her badly for whatever purpose it wanted, and Teroh ended its desire with its life. Its water under the bridge now."

He was about to reply when both he and Diron froze, sensing a mana user nearby. Kari was still meditating in her way before the fence behind her was smashed down. Shocked, she opened her eyes and turned around, only to be met head on by a creature of great strength, which also made her instantly forget everything she was thinking at that moment aside from fear. The Hypnox slammed into her, sending her flying until she crashed painfully on the ground, rolling several times before finally stopping. Diron and Nick weren't able to respond at all before she was hit. "Dammit, a wizard!" Neither wizard was prepared for a battle, so they focused on trying to gather their mana as quickly as possible. They didn't have the time to do so as another creature lashed at them. Two Nezumi Ronins came down on them fast and slammed them hard into a wall. Both wizards spat up blood as they got up. Both of them were ready with at least one creature in mind, but they didn't have the mana stores yet to summon something to stop the Hypnox. They made their quick summon, both of them getting a pair of raging goblins each. It would be enough for the rats, but the hypnox would kill them outright. They saw the ronins coming again to strike, sending their goblins to stop them. Both looked in shock at how the ronins easily parrayed the attacks of the goblins and easily slay them.

Diron frowned. "Shit! Those rats are samurai!" he muttered as he focused on his mana to get another creature out to defend himself.

Nick nodded as he focused on getting grizzly bears out. "Straight from the realms of Kamigawa, eh?" He looked up in time to see Hypnox coming for him. He got slammed hard and started to tumble on the ground as Kari had, yet managed to get back on his feet painfully. "This guy has no honor, striking without warning!" He looked up in time to notice the two samurai coming for him already. His grizzlys got in the way of one of them, biting the samurai's head off just as the weapon went through him with ease. Both creatures collapsed in a pool of their own blood, whilst the second samurai rat swung his blade at Nick. He yelled in pain as the sword pierced his skin, a trail of blood flowing out of him. He collapsed onto his knees from the pain, yet his eyes still held anger.

Because Diron wasn't engaged, he had the time to summon out a creature of his own. A burst of fire erupted where the creature was summoned, then took the form of a flaming cat. The cat roared in challenge and waited for something to respond to that challenge. Unfortunately, the instant he summoned it, it was snuffed out by a death spell. "Shit!" he said as the creatures charged at him, among them was a netzumi cutthroat. The Hypnox slammed into Nick again, weaking the young wizard severely and causing him to lost control of his mana. He collapsed, unable to concentrate enough to summon another while Diron was hit full out by the Netzumi ronin and cutthroat. Blood seeped out of the wounds inflicted upon him as he defiantly looked just past them, spotting the wizard. The man was wearing a black cloak over his entire body with a hood on his head, which revealed only his mouth from the darkness under it. Diron scowled at the necromancer as he summoned again, only to have his warrior stomped out just like his firecat. He realized he was dead before the creatures came for him again, being cut up by the rats again, which were now accompanied by another Nezumi ronin, as well as being hit by the Hypnox. He thudded on the ground roughly and rolled several times before coming to a stop, all signs of life gone from him.

The necromancer laughed as he stepped up to Diron's body. "Well done, my minions," he said to his creatures as he pulled out a knife from his robes. "Now to sever his head and bring it to my lord, and my mission will be complete." He looked at his creatures. "You may eat the body once the head is removed," he continued, getting the attention of his creatures easily with their prize.

In the woods, another Necromancer watched the entire event from the sidelines, following her master's orders. 'Not exactly how I would have done it,' she mused to herself in thought, 'but effective nonetheless. Time to report back and….' she stopped when she saw an odd glow. It was that of a mana aura, yet the necromacer out there didn't see it. She then noticed something, the aura was coming from where that girl was after Hypnox rammed her out of the way. 'What?'

The other necromancer was getting low to cut the head clean off Diron's neck when he suddenly felt a shock from his side, causing him to drop his blade. His eyes whipped in anger at Nick, who had barely managed to gather enough mana for a lightning strike on the necromancer himself. "Still have a little fight left in you," the man said evilly. He then said simply, "Kill him!" He noticed quickly that his creatures didn't respond to his order. "I told you to kill…" his eyes widened when he saw that his creatures were turning to stone. They were struggling to move, the rats screamed profanity in their native tounge, yelled in rage, even attempted to sever the stoned limbs on them, but to no avail. Like a plague, their skin turned to stone until they all were statues. "What the hell?"

"In Otaria, it was said that the Order had posession of the Mirari," a woman's voice said. He turned around and noticed a woman standing not too far away. Her hair was a pale green with white streaks in it, while her eyes were brown. He noticed as well that this girl was wearing the same clothes as the one Hypnox has batted away. "It offered them power, but ended up destroying most of them by calcifying their bodies into stone statues." She focused as she spoke, and creatures popped up from her sides. Both Nick and the Necromancer were shocked, for every creature she was summoning were legends from the Order of Avens and creatures of Krosan Forest. Lieutenant Kirtar, Major Teroh, and Commander Esha appeared at her sides, along with Kamahl as Krosan's champion, Seton, and Thriss. "The spell, Kirtar's Wrath, is what calcifies all creatures summoned by wizards and destroys them. You can do nothing to save then now, and nothing to save yourself from your own death." The necromancer tried to summon anyway, only to notice that she had also casted a cease fire spell, preventing him from summoning a creature at that moment. "You attacked those that weren't prepared to fight in a most dishonorable manner, and your death…." The legendary warriors she summoned then lifted their weapons and charged, "…is by my judgement." Kamahl channeled his energies into his weapon, which then strengthened every warrior in the charge. The necromancer could only look in horror as they all swung their weapons onto him. Once the attack was done, the warriors moved away from the now bloodied and mutilated corpse of the Necromancer.

Her brown eyes surveyed the area, spotting Nick on the ground. He looked at her in awe and fear, for she was rather effective at slaying the enemy. She moved closer to the wounded boy and chanted a spell. A white light surrounded him as his wounds healed up within a moment. Energy surged through his body again as though he weren't even bleeding before, allowing him to get back up. "Thanks for saving me," he said gratefully.

She smiled back at him. "No trouble at all," the girl said, "But healing you only required little of my energy. To do what I must next," she said as she looked at the lifeless body of Diron, "will require a lot more." Nick realized what she was, a mage of life. Excluding Necromancers, only a life giver would be able to revive the dead, but only life givers can restore one to their prior selves, while necromancers would revive something as a zombie. He kept his distance as she moved to Diron and knelt down beside him. She looked at how beaten up the wizard was before she started to mutter another spell. When she finished saying the spell, it seemed that nothing had happened. She looked at the young man again before moving herself closer to him and planting a kiss on his lips, lightly exhaling into him as she did so. She stayed that way as his wounds healed, up until his heart started beating again.

She was just pulling away when Diron suddenly inhaled and opened his eyes. He blinked several times see properly when he saw the green and white haired girl kneeling next to him, who was mildly red in the face. "What happened?" he mumbled, clearly remembering what should have happened.

Nick stood there dumbstruck. "You were dead…." he said before looking at the girl. "What did you do?"

She looked at him. "I administered the spell Breath of Life," she said simply. "Since it normally is used differently to revive dead creatures, I had to administer it differently to bring him back to life."

Diron blinked in understanding. "So I was killed." He looked at the girl oddly, for the small bit of red in her cheeks hadn't left. "What did you do to revive me with it?"

"She snuck a lip-lock on you," Nick said, answering the question for her. That was when he noticed that she was wearing the same clothes as Kari, yet he couldn't find her anywhere. "What the hell? Where's Kari?"

Diron noticed too, but had a feeling he knew where Kari was. "You're Kari," he said, looking at the girl next to him, "aren't you?"

She nodded slightly. "Partially," she replied. Nick looked at her in shock, but thought it best to hear her out. "The one you know as Kari is here, but that is only a part of her. I'm her other part, a former wizard from another dimension."

Both boys looked at her oddly, but it was Diron that spoke again. "That makes some sense," he said.

"Makes sense?" Nick said in shock. "In what way?"

"Her presence here isn't much different from us summoning the creatures here," he replied. "They don't just pop up out of thin air, they are called to us through the Multiverse. She may have been from one of the realms noted in the stories of Magic.". He looked at the girl again. "As to how she's here, it is possible she merged within Kari's body before she was born."

"That is correct," the girl said, "I only just awoke from my slumber within her, yet I cannot maintain prolonged control. I must leave soon." She sat back down. "Whatever you do, don't mention my presence within her. I'd rather confront her myself when I get the chance."

Nick nodded. "Could we at least know your name?"

She looked at them with her brown eyes once more. "As long as you don't say it to Kari, my name's Reika." She smiled slightly before closing her eyes. The creatures she summoned were surrounded by circled of their respective colors and absorbed into the ground as her hair returned to being brown. She slowly opened her eyes, the awoke with a start. Her green eyes were wide in shock as she remembered the Hypnox attacking her before going unconscious. She looked at Nick and Diron. "W-what happened?"

Nick and Diron looked at each other for a moment before Diron responded. "A friend came by and helped fight off another wizard, who was responsible for you being attacked. You ok?" She nodded slightly. "Alright. I think you should be getting home, though. Just relax for now, okay?" She nodded again and said her goodbye for the moment as she went home. Diron just watched as she left, hoping that whoever sent that Necromancer wasn't after her that whole time. He never noticed the other one in the woods as it made a hasty exit to tell the boss.

Okay, I admit that I didn't note any player's decks this time. That's because I'm rethinking about how their decks would appear now that I understand the Kamigawa set. Expect them to get Kamigawa cards of their own soon.

As for reviews………(crickets in background) maybe I should summon a gravedigger to find some, for I didn't see any for chapter two.

Until next time, if there is a next time…..


	4. Homefront Part I

Chapter 4: Homefront-Part I

The room wasn't much brighter than before when the necromancer girl returned. The instant she entered, she knelt down on one knee as her leader looked at her with his red eyes. Everyone in the room were still wearing their robes. "My lord, Aken has failed with his life."

He looked at her questionably. "Rise, Ari, and explain."

The girl nodded and stood up on her feet, her yellow eyes locking with her lord's. "He executed a stealth attack against the wizards using the combined forces of Nezumi warriors and Hypnox, succeeding in eliminating the wizard of red mana and all defenders."

The lord now looked enraged. "If he failed, why is the wizard dead?"

"I'm not finished," Ari interrupted. "He wasn't alone, for he was accompanied by a young girl roughly his age and the rainbow wizard. The girl was knocked clear and unconscious when the battle began, while the rainbow wizard tried to assist his ally. As stated, both failed, but the rainbow wizard still had strength left to use a spell on Aken. Distracted, he failed to notice the girl awaken and strike."

He frowned. "How so?"

"By what I could see, Aken's creatures turned to stone, even the Hypnox, because of her. She summoned creatures of her own and sealed his fate by smashing him with them all," Ari looked down. "The girl seemed to have no wizarding ability before being knocked unconscious, yet had no problem controlling six legendary warriors from Otaria to finish him off. Even more disturbing, she healed the wounded rainbow wizard and revived the wizard of red mana before returning to normal."

The lord's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Returning to normal…what do you mean?" he asked harshly.

"She had brown hair before and after the incident, yet had green and white hair when she awoke until a few minutes after reviving the wizard."

He put a hand on his head in thought. "This makes little sense, unless…." He shot her a look with his red eyes. "I want you to trail that girl and find out how powerful she really is. If needed, battle her enough to expose her in that form again. Go now, and return with the information you obtain."

"Yes, my lord," Ari said as she bowed, then turned and left the room.

'This girl,' the leader thought. 'She sounds familiar from somewhere and seems to show strength. I must know who she is and eliminate her if I can't turn her.' He looked at his followers before smirking. "Let us continue with the ritual, before something else…"

"ZINEK!" a voice yelled from above. "GET YOUR ASS UP HERE AND CLEAN UP YOUR ROOM!"

"Shit," the lord mumbled as he glared at the ceiling menacingly. "I'm going to kill her one of these days…." He looked back at his group. "I'll be back," he said angrily as he left the room, thinking of what to do to his mother upstairs.

………………………………...

Kari sighed as she returned to her room. She was asked quite a few questions by her mother the moment she had returned and she was exhausted. She managed to get through what seemed like 1000 questions with her mother and got something to eat before entering her room to sleep. She was mildly surprised to see a series of Kamigawa theme decks from the Champions of Kamigawa, Betrayers, and Saviors sets. Also, the theme decks focused completely on either white cards, green cards, or both. Puzzled, she opened her room door and searched for her mother. "Mom, what are those Magic cards doing on my bed?"

Her mother, a blond haired woman in her mid forties with green eyes smiled at her daughter. "Silly me," she said. "I forgot to say happy birthday, sweetie." Kari's mouth dropped open before shaking her head, she had completely forgotten that today was supposed to be her birthday. "I knew how much you liked that Magic game, so I thought you would like the cards from the newest set."

"And how the heck did you know I used green and white cards?"

Her mother responded by holding up a sheet of paper with Kari's entire deck listed on it. One side of it said green while the other said white, with spaces for her multi color cards and artifacts. "I found it lying on your desk a few weeks ago and thought this would help."

Kari could have just slammed her head into the table just then. "Now I know where that list went…." She said as she walked over to her mother and gave her a hug. "Thanks, mom." She said happily.

After getting a 'your welcome' from her mother, she returned into her room and looked at the theme decks, then dug her hand into her pocket to pull out the Kamigawa pack she had purchased at the Expo that day. She blinked in surprise when she felt a plastic case in her pocket as well and pulled it out, noticing the card inside. 'Oops,' she thought, 'I completely forgot about that Darksteel Colossus card.' She set the cards down on her floor before she moved to her computer to confirm Darksteel's 'indestructible' rule. It was there that she found out that normal forms of destruction such as lethal damage and cards with 'destroy' wouldn't work in sending the creature to the graveyard. She continued to read, discovering that there were only five ways to effectively eliminate an indestructible card. She looked at her dark steel card.

'Okay, it isn't a legend, so the legend rule won't work on him if someone else has him out already. That leaves counter spells, rot (-X/-X effect cards), sacrifice, and removal from play to eliminate it,' she thought, then frowned at the thought. 'I'd need to be careful using it, for there are several strategies that can make this weapon become my downfall.' She remembered when another player had slapped an enchantment on her powered up phantom from judgment. Because the creature couldn't be killed by terminal damage because of its counter removal effect, she wasn't able to harm the enemy at all until she played Kirtar's Wrath, eliminating every creatures and the enchantment attached to them. If forced to do that again, it wouldn't work on the Colossus.

Moving away from her computer, she opened up the theme decks and split them by color, land, creature, and spells. She also opened up her Kamigawa pack, dismayed slightly that her rare from the pack wasn't a tough creature, but some artifact called the Long Forgotten Gohei. As she examined the cards, she noticed that there were quite a few spirits that she could use. They weren't as invincible as her Judgment phantoms could be, but she started formulating a deck design because of it. She took her main deck and dismantled it down to the individual cards, picking the few strong cards and all her phantoms from the deck and putting them aside for her new one. She then selected several spirit cards for it as well with varying abilities. When an ability confused her, she referred to the computer or the inserts from the theme decks to understand. She learned of the new rules from Kamigawa block and also learned of the refitted rules for legendary cards.

She spent a good hour redesigning her deck until she was done. She had chosen to salvage the legendary creatures Kirtar, Teroh, and Kamahl the Fist of Krosa for use in her deck, along with her phantoms and Kirtar's Wrath. She also had added Oyobi, Kodama, and the Bounteous Kirin from the Kamigawa cards she got and also threw in the Darksteel Colossus to spook her opponents. To power up her creatures, she added the Long Forgotten Goheis she got from both a booster and one of the theme decks to power up her spirits and lower the cost of the new Arcane spell cards. To add even more power, she added her only copy of Mirari's wake to both power up her creatures by an additional +1+1 as well as practically double her mana supply during a fight. She then set up her side deck, making sure her four circle of protections were among the fifteen in there. 'Four circles down, only circle of green to go,' she thought, tossing in a random card for the fifteenth card.

She felt exhausted even more so at this point, barely stifling a yawn. She packed up her cards and put them in her Judgment box, which used to house several Judgment theme decks before she stopped the store owner from throwing the empty thing out. She got irritated when she noticed that all of her green and white cards now filled more that 5/6ths of the box. Barely leaving any for the hundred or so cards from each of the other colors, as well as the countless land cards she had accumulated. Sighing again, she decided to set aside the gold colored Saviors of Kamigawa deck box for her deck while she sorted the remaining cards into the extra deck boxes she had. Putting all her cards away, she removed her clothes and slipped into her green and white nightgown before entering her bed. She fell asleep rather quickly and silently in her bed.

………………………………...

Diron and Nick were having another card battle that evening, trying to think about what was going on. The battle was going against Nick, for he was unable to keep Darigaaz alive long enough to do damage and he was out of creatures that turn. "And that, my friend, is game. I attack full out with Kamahl and the others."

Nick nodded in defeat. "You got me. So, any luck on where that guy was from?"

"Can't say," Diron said. "According to you, that Necromancer was too concerned with taking my head. I'm not even sure who the hell would want to kill me or why."

Nick sighed. "That guy was tough, though. You should have seen the look on his face when his monsters turned to stone and died."

"Yeah," Diron said sarcastically. "Real shame I couldn't see it, considering I was ALREADY DEAD!"

Nick rubbed his ear in pain. "Chill already. That's water under the bridge now. That 'Reika person saved your life, remember?"

He glared at the rainbow wizard. "How the hell could I forget," he said, the image of the blushing girl still etched in his head, "but her sudden appearance is troubling. She wouldn't have been in this universe at all if she didn't have something important to do here."

Nick smirked devilishly. "So, how did it feel?"

"How did what feel?"

"Getting kissed by Reika?" Nick instantly regretted those words as the nearest book slammed into his face. To his dismay, it was a hardcover copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

"Stupid question, Nick. I was dead through most of it, remember?" Diron said. "I wouldn't have even known she kissed me to bring me back to life if you didn't open your damned mouth." He then walked outside and looked at the carcass of the dead Necromancer. He then noticed a sigil on his cloak, his face paling. "Oh shit!"

Nick followed Diron outside, an imprint of the book's cover on his face. "What? You recognize something?"

He nodded. "This sigil, it belongs to a group called the Dark Omen!" He gritted his teeth. "I encountered these guys once before. They resort to nearly any means to get what they want, and I was pretty much on their shit list when I killed one of their men and refused to join them. Chances are, they still want…" His eyes widened. "#$! KARI!" Nick realized that Diron was going to run just before Diron did, the two managing to keep up.

"What the hell! What's this got to do with her?" Nick yelled to Diron.

He shot Nick a look. "She killed a necromancer of Dark Omen. They'll be after her, too!"

Nick looked at Diron in confusion. "How's anyone to know?"

"The man I killed was alone, yet they knew of his death and his assailant none the less! They'll know it was her as well. I know it!"

They ran down a street when Nick looked at him. "You even know where she lives?"

Diron shook his head. "Not really. I'm trying to follow her mana aura. You'd sense it too if you'd shut up and concentrate! Focus on collecting mana, or we won't have time to get creatures summoned to defend Kari and ourselves!"

………………………………...

As Kari slept she dreamed. She saw herself in a forest area, yet didn't know what forest it was. She wandered around a little bit until she encountered a green and white haired person, who seemed to be asleep or meditating. Oddly enough for her, this meditating woman seemed similar in appearance to Kari herself. She moved up to this person. "H-hello?" she asked hesitantly.

The girl awoke and looked at Kari with brown eyes and smiled. "Hello," the girl said to Kari politely. "I'm glad you found me."

Kari was taken aback. "You were expecting me?"

The girl nodded. "Yes, I was. I've been waiting for years for you to find me, Kari, just so I could speak to you."

Kari frowned now. "You seem to know my name already. Who are you, and what is there to talk about?"

The girl still smiled. "My name is Reika, and I'm a part of you."

"That's laying it a little thick," Kari replied.

"Perhaps," Reika said, "but it is the truth. I'm a part of you that has been left dormant for a long time. If it wasn't for what happened today, I wouldn't have even awakened slightly to help save you and your friends."

Kari glared. "There is no way. Diron and Nick said a friend helped them."

"What about those creatures turned to stone," Reika said, noting some irritation at what she was saying. "I know you saw them. Its harder for a creature to disappear when they are trapped as statues of calcium." Kari looked away. Reika was right, she had seen Nezumi ronins, a Nezumi Cutthroat, and a Hypnox encased in stone not too far away from the butchered form within the black robes. Reika saw this and shook her head. "No, it probably isn't time for you to recognize me yet. I can't rush you into this, for you must find out for yourself." She got up and started walking away.

Kari looked at Reika. "What do you mean?"

Reika looked at Kari once more. "We are both parts of a whole. Unless we both can recognize each other as such, our full potential and power cannot be reached. It seems you are not ready to accept that fact yet. Until you do, you shall maintain command of every action, while I wait on the side to assist when needed. I won't allow this body to die, for it would kill us both."

She was about to leave when both girls froze, for they both heard a blood curdling scream that instantly woke Kari up. She thought it was a dream for a moment, until she noticed a second later that the scream was real and familiar. She immediately got out of bed and ran out of her room, fear in her eyes at knowing whose scream that was. She ran down the steps of her house and came to a gruesome sight. She saw her mother, rotting away to nothing before her eyes. Her skin was already grey and cracking in places, exposing bone and flesh. "MOTHER!" The dying woman looked at her daughter in fear.

"K-ka-ari….r-run…" she managed to say before her mouth wasted to nothing, followed by the rest of her. Kari ran to her mother, tears in her eyes as she tried to grab her, to save her. She only managed to embrace her mother for a minute before she turned to dust in her hands. Tears streamed down Kari's face as she looked at what remained.

"MOTHER!" she screamed, collapsing over her mother's remains in sorrow. She sobbed over the body before sensing a presence in the room. She looked up and saw a figure cloaked in black, as if it were a shadow. A pair of glowing yellow eyes could be seen in the darkness.

"If she wasn't so ill cooperative," the figure started with a female voice, "I wouldn't have needed to waste her away like that. Such a waste." The figure moved closer to the crying girl.

"Why are you here? What the hell do you want?"

"I'm here for you, girl," the figure said. "You have killed a necromancer of the Dark Omen. For that, you must either join or die."

She glared at the woman as she shakily got up, tears still in her eyes. "Yo-you killed m-my mother…" she said in a wavering voice. "I will ne-never join my mother's k-killers!"

The woman seemed to smile under her cloak. "What a shame," she said, charging her mana up for a move. "Then prepare to die!"

To be continued…

………………………………...

For the first time in this fic, we have a cliffhanger. Now that school's out, I can freely get these fanfic chapters done rather easily. Only problems to face now are work…and moving. Goddamn, I don't wanna move, but I have no choice. The house was sold a while ago and we must leave by the 23rd of this month.

Here are the reviewers from chapters two and three:

Chigi-apologies for not saying anything about the review for chapter two sooner, it popped up too late. Nick did make a noob mistake, both in the story and in real life, because he can easily misread how an effect works. Don't worry, there are few he'd make a horrible mistake with.

MTDL-thanks for the wizard duels comment. Hypnox wasn't sacrificed. Throughout this chapter, references to it being caught by the Kirtar's wrath are mentioned, which is its real fate of it from that fight.

Sehl-me? As good as arrathir? Doubt it, he's my inspiration for even starting a magic fan fiction, but thanks for the comment As for additional people, that would be appreciated, and there is adequate time for others to arrive see below for information.

Thanks to sehl, I will now be accepting any additional characters to appear in the fic. I will require the character's name, age, gender, personality, appearance, and deck usage. Bios are welcome, but nothing overly crazy. Neutrals, heroes, and villains welcome. DO NOT POST A CHARACTER PROFILE ON THE REVIEWS! Please send them to also, please do not send me a profile that is or will be in use by arrathir. I'd like the fic to be as original as possible without our stories mingling together.

Once again, remember to thank the proofreading staff for their work on making sure nothing is wrong and for their ideas in use so far. See you for part II of Homefront.


	5. Homefront Part II

Chapter 5: Homefront- part II

Kari slowly got to her feet, tears still streaming down her face, her green and white nightgown sprinkled with dust that used to be her mother. Although saddened greatly by the loss of her own mother to some unknown person, her face was showing rage and anger towards the woman in front of her. A pale green aura was visible around her as she concentrated as well as she could, but her anger was clouding her thoughts.

The woman laughed in an evil sort of way. "Do you honestly think you can defeat me with such pitiful control of mana?" she said humorously. "You had so much more when you killed Aken!" she then smirked as she called her creature. A dark circle was formed and shot up a dark cloud. The cloud hung in the air before it began to take form, until a horse materialized in front of the woman. Sitting on that horse appeared to be a samurai, whose eyes shone purple in the dark as he held his weapon close. Kari was either to blinded by rage to see the real threat of the creature, or else she just wasn't used to seeing the creature known in the game as the Hand of Cruelty.

Kari focused as well as she could, hoping she could learn how to use her mana quick. She never had the chance to learn how from Diron or Nick, and she realized this wasn't a good thing at all. Yet she focused on her thoughts and managed to get a creature of her own out. When she opened her eyes, which were closed while she concentrated on her thoughts, she almost wet her panties when she saw the specter standing next to her. She realized a moment later what it was, a phantom of a dead nomadic warrior. The silent warrior stood in front of its master in an attempt to protect her. To her, his timing couldn't have been perfect, until she saw the dark samurai charge.

The phantom stood defiantly in the way, only to have the samurai literally plow through the mist of the creature without causing any harm. The blade weapon he held went through the specter and actually hit her. She screamed in pain as she felt blood trickling down her side, where the blade had cut into her shoulder. The woman laughed again. "Sorry, weakling," she taunted, "but my samurai can easily avoid a creature like that. Hell, he could easily hurt your phantom and not get hurt himself." That's when Kari saw it, an excessively dark aura around him in which no light passed through at all.

'No light…' she thought painfully and angrily, clutching her wounded shoulder with her good arm. Her eyes widened in realization. 'He is protected from the phantom.' She focused again as well as she could, being rewarded with an old artifact with ceremonial paper on it. "Phantom," she said painfully, "Get her while she is unguarded by her warrior." The phantom nodded and disappeared for a moment. The woman didn't see the creature reappear out of nowhere and pass right through her, a burn mark appearing where it passed through. It was that woman's turn to scream in pain, yet seemed to be enjoying it. Her yellow eyes locked with Kari's green eyes.

"I'm mildly impressed," the woman said, "but that was nothing compared to the pain you will soon feel!" The samurai charged again and sliced at her, ripping the material from her nightgown as he nicked her chest. She dropped to a knee as the necromancer then summoned a rat with what appeared to be tentacles sticking out of its samurai armored body. She grimaced as she forced herself to think of something else. She managed to gather some more mana, and felt she had enough for her other phantom. She tried focusing on it, being rewarded with a centaur standing with her nomad with a greenish glow to it. Its eyes glowed a bright white as it stood its ground alongside her.

The nomad then made its charge on the necromancer again. This time, the rat creature stood in front of its master and took the blow of the phantom, suffering from his entire middle being blown open by the heat that the phantom generated. The phantom glowed dimmer from the move, for the rat had held its blade in front of it and messed with the ectoplasm forces keeping the phantom in a semi-material form. Kari looked in shock as the tentacles enclosed around the hole in the rat and fused to restore the flesh there. A moment later, the rat was fully healed and the tentacles reappeared. "Nice try, but Kuro's taken tend to regenerate from attacks," the woman laughed. She then struck back. A villainous ogre appeared next to her from another black cloud while the rat and samurai charged in.

"Centaur, the horseman," Kari said, praying he would listed. He did and stood in front of the samurai warrior. The two entangled in a cruel melee which resulted in the samurai dead on the ground with his head taken off and bleeding on the ground. However, the rat made his strike and hit Kari herself, striking her leg deep enough to scratch the thigh bone and damage her gown even more. She really did fall on to her knees this time, and now she couldn't get herself back up.

She was getting rather angered about her predicament as she summoned her phantom tiger and waited, planning a defensive. She knew she'd need her warriors to defend herself, otherwise she'd be wide open to attack. She never should have waited, for another black cloud formed, this one with clacking chains being sounded. When the creature emerged, she saw an ugly creature with three eyes and horns for ears. His entire body was wrapped in chains that were broken. "Like my demon?" the necromancer said. "Yukora, the Prisoner. Although he will kill all non-ogres I summon if he dies, he is powerful enough to cause problems for you as he is." She smirked slightly. "For now, though, I won't attack."

Kari frowned. 'What is she thinking,' she thought angrily as she just attacked with her centaur in her rage, not even bothering to add additional creatures. As she expected, the necromancer's creatures couldn't get in the way and the wizard herself was struck in the side. She spat up some blood, but chuckled to herself. Before Kari could do anything else, the necromancer retaliated. She saw the creatures charge her and blocked the demon with her nomad, knowing it wouldn't kill anything anyways. She was then trying to get her tiger to deal with the ogre before she was bitten bad. She looked at her side to see her phantom tiger's teeth deep within her side, its eyes glowing black with possession. She barely had time to scream before the other creatures hit her hard, those with blades damaging her nightgown enough to have it half fall of while causing her to bleed even more. She struggled to keep herself up with her good hand, but could tell that failing to do something sooner was going to cost her.

………………………………...

Diron froze in front of a simple, two story house after running for only ten minutes at full speed. His senses were tingling with mana. He could sense the mana of Kari as well as another wizard, yet also felt mana from other beings inside. Also, he felt something that irritated him as well. "There's a mana duel inside," he said, a red circle forming on his side as one of his creatures were summoned. A ring of fire formed before a Vulshock Berserker appeared, screaming in a rage. "…and someone is dead in there," he continued glumly.

Nick nodded as he summoned Kamahl the Pit Fighter. "Then lets pray that it isn't someone we or Kari know that died," Nick said. Looking at the door, he said simply, "Let's just get in and make sure she's alright quickly." Diron nodded and allowed his Vulshock to enter first. Unfortunately, it chose to ram through the door. Shrugging, the two wizards entered the house with their creatures, unaware that a man in a nearby car was watching them intently before picking up his cell phone.

They entered in time to see Kari get attacked by her own phantom creature along with the necromancer's warriors. "How's it feel to get hit by your own creature?" the necromancer gloated, too preoccupied to notice the newer threat behind her. Diron looked at Nick, who then nodded and pointed at the woman in black. Kamahl nodded and wielded his sword. "Even if you do send that centaur again, you wouldn't last any longer."

"How about a strike from behind," Kamahl growled, shocking the necromancer a moment before his sword found its way through her body. She coughed up blood as some more poured from the hole in her gut. Kamahl, as he withdrew his sword, grabbed the hood and ripped it off her head. Jet black hair spilled out of the hood's remains as her yellow eyes widened in shock. The shadows that surrounded her face disappeared to reveal the face of a girl no older than seventeen.

She glared at the two that had arrived. "Damn," she murmured as her creatures disappeared. "As much as I wish to kill you, I don't have the time." Before Kamahl could do anything else, the girl smashed him hard in the face and escaped as if she weren't even wounded. With the immediate threat gone, both wizards moved to Kari's side and checked to make sure she was alright. She had passed out shortly after the necromancer left, yet tears still streamed down her face silently.

"Man," Nick said. "She's hurt pretty bad… and her clothes aren't much better." He looked at Diron. "She needs to rest and heal now."

"I know," Diron said in reply. "Not only is there physical exhaustion, but mental as well. We never had time to show her how to properly summon a creature or use spells, so she would have needed to concentrate a hell of a lot to accomplish what she managed to do." He looked around the room, still having that sense that someone died in that room, yet there was no evidence of anyone else in there. "We're going to her room. She'll rest there. Once she is rested enough to move, she will take what she needs and we will get out of here. Its too dangerous to remain here any longer."

Nick nodded in agreement and had Kamahl pick up the wounded girl, then followed them as they searched the remaining rooms until they found hers. Nick waited as Kamahl moved to the bed and put her down gently, while Diron ran into her bathroom to retrieve some medical supplies. It didn't take him very long to find what he was looking for and return to her room. He laid the med kit down next to the bed as he pulled out what would be needed to help her.

"Hey, Diron," Nick said, getting the older teen's attention. "I have a bad feeling about this. I'm just going to make sure nothing enters the house, Ok?"

The older teen shrugged. "Be my guest. If there is trouble, just make sure I know." Nick nodded and left the room with Kamahl following, leaving Diron to clean and bandage up the young girl's wounds. He removed what remained of her nightgown and wrapped up the wounds that it barely was able to hide. 'What the hell was she thinking?' he thought as he finished with her shoulder and side, and began to work on where a blade has sliced her chest barely. 'If it was Reika, it wouldn't have been that much for her, but Kari wasn't taught how to summon yet.' He finished bandaging those wounds as well as he started on her one leg, frowning at how deep the cut was.

"m..ther….." he heard her murmur in her unconscious state, her tears still streaming. Diron paused a moment.

'Mother…' he thought questionably. 'What?'

His eyes widened as she stirred slightly and awoke slowly, her green eyes locking with his weakly. "d-Diron.." she said weakly, failing to notice her gown was missing.

"Relax for now," he said quickly, finishing on the last wound she had. "You've been through a lot tonight." She looked sadly at him, tears still in her eyes. "I doubt those tears are for your wounds."

She looked away. "that's because they aren't," she said softly. "They're for….mother…." She started crying like she did before her battle again. Diron was about to ask when she beat him to the punch. "That w-woman….s-she killed my m-mother…had her w-waste away until she was dust…." She closed her eyes as she continued to cry, and Diron couldn't think of anything to say offhand to comfort her.

He sighed miserably at what he was told. "You aren't the only one," he said. She was still crying, but she had heard him speak and that made her try to control herself. She looked at him while her tears still streamed down, reducing her outbursts to whimpers as well as she could. "I've battled the group that woman was in before. They tried to kill me, but…" A tear left his own eye. "..my mother…s-she tried to stop them and died before my eyes." His one fist clenched while Kari gasped slightly. "At that time, I couldn't control the amount of mana channeled within me with that much anger and ended up destroying the entire house, with only my mother's body and myself surviving the flames that engulfed the house." He closed his eyes as he chose to finish. "I buried her nearby my old house before I left for good. I've now been alone for almost two years, and have been on Dark Omen's shit list for what had happened. I'm stronger now, so I'm probably a threat to them, but now you got involved as well. It's my fault you're in that condition right now."

"Diron," she said, showing some limited control of the waterworks. "There's nothing to be done now. They attacked me and killed my mother, and I can't forgive them for that…" Suddenly, they both heard yelling and shooting from downstairs, as well as a roar of a creature. Nick arrived at the door to her room a moment later.

"We've got company," he said quickly, barely acknowledging the fact that Kari was conscious.

"What kind?"

"Cops!" Both Diron and Kari's eyes widened in surprise. "Someone saw us enter this house and recognized Kamahl from the mall, not to mention the screaming the neighbors heard!" He growled in irritation. "Even worse, that bitch from before is with him and claimed that the three of us killed someone in here!"

Kari's aura flared for a moment, before the mana it created caused her wounds to burn. She gasped at the pain, then gritted her teeth. "My mother is dead, but there's nothing left of her body thanks to that bitch!"

Diron cleared his throat. "It wouldn't matter now! We need to get out of here, otherwise Dark Omen would easily get us where they want us."

Nick looked at them both. "Some of my creatures, especially Kamahl, are covering for us down below. They won't stay long, most of them can't realize the threat of a pistol!"

Diron nodded. "As much as I hate to say this, but we'll need to fly our way out. Nick, summon one of your dragons to get us out of here." He looked at Kari. 'She can't do much until her wounds heal…' "Kari, where are your clothes?"

She blinked in confusion, but then pointed behind him with her good arm. "That dresser," she said, wanting to get up and help. She gasped as she felt the pain, giving up on getting up. "My cards are in there as well." she said as an afterthought.

Diron nodded and moved to the dresser, pulling out a shirt and one of her skirts at random and tossing them to her. "Try to put those on. We're not going to have you ride that thing in your underclothes." She looked down and finally noticed her nightgown was missing, shooting Diron an I'll-get-you-later look while her cheeks turned a mild shade of red and as she managed to get her clothes on as well and quickly as possible.

"I'm ready to summon Darigaaz," Nick said. He froze as he felt mana leaving one of his creatures. "we'd better hurry, Kamahl just got beaten by the cops."

Diron nodded. "Here's a move not listed in the game," he said as he focused his mana on the table. A red glowing circle surrounded it and engulfed it within a sphere. The sphere then shrunk itself down to the size of a marble and stopped glowing. He picked up the little red marble, which had the miniaturized furniture within it, and showed it to Kari before opening a pouch to put it in safely. "A more convenient way to move stuff around," he explained. He moved over to Kari and lifted her up. Unprepared for what he was doing, she yelled and punched at him with her good arm, although he shrugged it off. "Lets go."

Nick nodded and focused on his mana and the image of Darigaaz and the mana forms required to bring him to their world. A large golden circle appeared near him, mixtures of black, red, and green flowing within the circle. Those three colors blossomed out until a hole existed where the circle was, then it appeared. Darigaaz's head popped up out of the ground and forced its way up, bringing its body out and smashing a hole in the roof simultaneously. "Oops," Nick muttered. "I forgot he's pretty big…"

Diron shook his head. "Just gives her another reason to hit me," he said, moments before Kari's good hand smashed into his head hard. He shot a look at the thrashing girl that caused her to stop. "Kari, we had no choice here. Either we did what we could to save your life, or else we could just let those cops take you. Either way, Dark Omen will be after us, but getting away will allow you to defend yourself next time you see them."

She looked away. "I know…" she said softly, clearly hating the fact that she would have to leave.

"In here! Break the door down!" Diron wasted no time upon hearing that voice. He and Nick got onto Darigaaz's back as quickly as possible. As Nick gave his dragon the order to take off, Diron made sure that Kari was on the dragon and wouldn't fall off. The dragon roared as it flapped its wings and took the trio away from the house, just as the cops busted into her room. Bullets were fired at the dragon moments later, but it either didn't get hit or easily ignored the bullets that did as it flew off into the night.

………………………………...

Ari watched as the dragon flew away while the cops searched the house and tried to stop Darigaaz. She watched as the cops extracted the body of a blond haired woman and a dog from the building, smirking to herself. They were actually the transformed bodies of her Hand of Cruelty and his horse, making it look like the girl's mother was slaughtered along with their 'dog.'

'That should work,' she thought as she started leaving the scene of the homicide. 'Those bodies will disappear within a few days, but it already would've sparked a manhunt for those two.' She smirked as she held a black marble in her hand. 'Meantime, that other one will be the eyes and ears of Lord Zinek. When the lord sees the timing right, he will make sure that both of those wizards are dead.'

………………………………...

That is chapter 5 of this story now. Moving day is upon me, so this will be the last chapter to get out before the computer is disconnected. I will continue this story when I can get the chance.

Reviews: 2

Arrathir- thanks for the comment, and yes she has been playing behind the times. The legendary creatures she used in chapter 3 should be sufficient proof.

Demigod- O.O' circle of protections are banned? Are you sure about that? Lu Chao and the proofreading staff seem to disagree with you there. Anyway, there might not be time for her or the others to participate in tournaments, especially with what's happening.

Special thanks to the proofreading staff for this chapter. See you guys when I return….


	6. Recovery

Chapter 6: Recovery

Darigaaz flew through the air for a short time before landing a short distance away from the city of Kiren. As it landed, two of his passengers prepared to jump off, with one of them prepared to help the wounded third in their group. Diron took care as he slid off the dragon, a sleeping Kari in his arms. She was bandaged from her wounds earlier and had passed out during the flight of the legendary creature, Diron having to keep her from falling from such a lethal height. Nick hopped down from the back of his dragon, checking to make sure everyone was alright and that the area was clear for the time being. "That," he muttered, noticing the few bullet wounds Darigaaz had taken and ignored, "was a close call."

Diron gave another of his silent nods as he laid Kari down on the nearby ground, careful not to stir her from her slumber. "An attack from Dark Omen, involvement of police, death of her mother," he shook his head. "Its been a long day." He got up and moved not too far from the girl, thinking about all that is going on. "All of this because they wanted me dead."

Nick shrugged and sat down, allowing his dragon to turn gold and disappear in a circle that glowed below it. "So, how about spilling the beans on this 'Dark Omen' you've been talking about?"

He shook his head. "I will, but only when we all are conscious," he said. "She's now involved in this as much as I am, she deserves to know." He looked at Nick questionably. "Why do you wish to know anyway?"

Nick couldn't help but smirk. "I just wish to help you out, that's all. Both of you are my friends, and I can't allow anyone to get away with trying to claim their lives!"

Diron nodded in understanding. "An admirable thought," he replied, "and your help would be appreciated, but it isn't necessary. You would only get yourself involved and at risk as well as both of us."

"Bring them on! I don't care how strong they think they are," he said humorously. "They do say the more the merrier, and I believe we can handle them easily."

"Yet they also say," a female voice said, signaling that Reika was in control, "that two is company, but three's a crowd." Both wizards turned to face where Kari was, greeted by the sight of a bandaged girl with pale green and white hair with brown eyes. She moved to get up, only to mumble in pain as she felt how badly wounded Kari was from the fight.

"How long have you been awake?" Nick asked in surprise.

"Since I noticed that Kari was out cold," she replied, concentrating on a healing spell to heal her wounds. "She's been through quite a bit tonight, so I'm hardly surprised." As she spoke, her wounds began to heal slowly. "Oh, and its safe now to mention me to Kari when she awakes. I spoke to her in her sleep before her mother died."

Nick looked at her. "Wait a minute, you revived Diron. How about your mother?"

"Her mother," Reika corrected. "She didn't accept me as a part of herself, and I cannot revive her mother. Her body was destroyed. I can't revive someone if their body no longer exists." She looked away as her wounds continued to heal. "I am truly sorry about her loss, but there is nothing any of us can do to correct it."

Diron nodded. "I understand," he said. "I just wish that she didn't have to suffer the loss of a relative, especially to that group."

Reika looked at him. "How about telling us about this 'Dark Omen' then? I can tell Kari what she needs to know in her dreams and leave any questions she may have to you."

Diron shrugged. "I guess I can trust you with that, as long as I don't need to repeat myself." He sighed and sat down where he was, looking at his two friends. "Alright, here's the deal. The Dark Omen are a group of wizards. There are many groups of them, kinda like cliks or gangs for the regular humans, except are obviously more dangerous than any of them. Dark Omen is just one of the larger groups, but is by far one of the most dangerous ones that exist." He looked up at the sky at this moment. "Most of their wizards are capable warriors, yet I don't know if they are taught further within the group or are just using what skills they naturally have. There recruitment system is completely different from most other forms of initiation. They go after any that they see as a powerful wizard and make an attempt to recruit them. Very few are invited in just by being the strongest, and many have to battle members of the Dark Omen themselves just to enter. If a member engages a wizard, the result often leaves one standing if the member wins. Almost half of such duels actually have the member survive if he was beaten, and that normally has the group give the invite. It is relatively simple, join or die."

He looked back at them. "I've only heard of them for almost two years. I encountered one of their members and ended up fighting him, leaving him for dead when the battle was over. Another one found me in the forest a few days later and gave me the invite. I declined and had to retaliate against the opponent, forcing the necromancer to withdraw." He looked down at his knees as he continued. "The rest I can clearly remember. I lived in a quiet town, not much different from Kiren. After they learned that I had no interest in joining them, they came at me in force later that day. They attacked me when I least expected it, and my mother fought to protect me in any way she could. She didn't have the ability to summon a creature or use spells for she wasn't a wizard, and thus died trying to save me." He was about to continue when Reika stopped him.

"I know the rest. You told Kari that you lost control of your mana and set the house on fire, supposedly killing the necromancers. You then buried your mother's body and never looked back as you traveled alone for those past two years," she replied. She shook her head as she absent mindedly removed the bandages on her body, revealing pink marks where open wounds have been. "It would seem that Kari can't look back now either, for she doesn't have anywhere else to go to."

Nick looked at Reika. "What do you mean she has nowhere else to go to. What about her relatives?"

"She has none," Reika replied. "Her father died shortly before her birth and contact with his side of her family has been lost for over fifteen years. Her mother's relatives had been dying from random acts of violence or diseases." She shook her head in a sad manner. "Because she had no one left by time she was fifteen, it was always just herself and her mother, but that was all that was keeping her on her feet. Excluding you guys, and possibly myself, she has no one left to rely on now."

Diron shook his own head. "Unfortunately, we can't stay in any one place for long. Word seems to get around pretty fast for them to easily find me in any city or town I enter. And if that Dark Omen bitch is with the cops, then we can be assured that they will constantly be looking out for us at every single place within the country."

Nick looked at Diron. "For now, though, we should focus on getting rest for the night," he said.

"You're right," Diron replied, getting up. "I'll take the first watch, so you and Kari can..."

"No," Nick replied. "I'll take the first watch. I had a few creatures already summoned while you were speaking about the Dark Omen."

Reika looked at him. "I don't sense a creature nearby," she replied, looking around cautiously.

"My specialty," he replied. "I set up a dark aura around this place using one of my own spells and have various creatures lurking around. Most are wild creatures, easily mistaken for regular wildlife. I also have a few...darker creatures watching us." A pair of red eyes shone from the darkness of the woods they resided in, accompanied by a faint outline of a particularly nasty creature of death. "Dark Strosis and the others can hold the area, but I should stay awake so that some of them don't think of turning on you both while you sleep."

Both nodded impressed. "Not bad, Nick," Diron replied. "Its settled then, thanks to your current actions. You will have the first watch, but I'm also summoning one of my own trusted creatures to help. He will stay around until he is killed or sent back, but he won't do anything funny." With that said, the red mage concentrated on his mana control and focused on the summoning. Another red circle appeared next to him and flames shot forth as the pardic firecat arrived. "If it dies, I'll sense it and awaken instantly."

Reika also concentrated, however with greater difficulty. She then gasped as she stopped. "Dammit, I can't summon what I wanted to summon," she murmured as she looked through Kari's deck. She stopped flipping through the cards as she looked at one. "Crud, I didn't realize she changed her deck around. And this creature is only strong with others." She lightened up upon seeing a familiar face in the deck. "There we go," she said as a white circle appeared next to her. An aven form glowed in white before the glow faded, revealing the form of the aven lieutenant of the northern order, Kirtar. "I'll be able to sense his death as well, but it may as well be Kari that awakens."

"Fine then," Nick said. "Just rest up for now, both of you." He looked at Diron. "I'll be getting you up within three hours from now, so try and get some sleep before that happens." Both Reika and Diron nodded before leaning back for some sleep. Diron leaned against a tree as he drifted off to slumber land, while Reika laid on her back and closed her eyes. Nick watched with concern as his new friends fell asleep before beginning his self appointed task.

...

Ari entered the room where the other members of Dark Omen resided, not overly surprised to see the unconscious form of a middle aged woman in the corner of the room. She looked at the circle of members and their lord, a mild smirk on her face. She knelt down before her lord with her head down. "I have done all that I could in the matter concerning the girl, my lord," she said.

Zinek watched her as she moved, his red eyes never even blinking. "Explain, then, why we aren't graced with her presence, whether it be alive or dead?"

"The wizard of red mana and his friend interfered when I was in the process of killing her," she replied, revealing the bloodied wound where Kamahl had struck. "As of this moment, though, she has no one else to turn to, for I killed her mother. I also have the police wrapped around my finger, believing that the girl and the wizards are responsible for the woman's death."

Zinek nodded. "I understand," he replied in a dangerous tone, "yet you rely too much on common people when it comes to tracking them down, and I doubt that they'll easily let the police find them."

"That is no problem," she replied, pulling out a black marble. The small sphere pulsed with mana flow. "I had set up a spy and an assassin within their group with this. For now, he is merely the unwilling, yet unknown, spy of Dark Omen." She held the marble to Zinek. "I figured that you should have the honor of having him perform his assassination act when you feel the time is right. My sphere will allow you to control him like a puppet whenever you feel the time is right."

He nodded once more. "I see too few flaws in your plan, yet they must become exhausted before I have the 'mole' act. I will watch them from here and send teams out to do hit and runs on their small group, while your 'police' handle tracking them down. Then, when the time is right, they will be crushed and used for our purposes." He smirked as he finished. "Now go."

Ari nodded as she stood up, making sure she had her cloak conceal her completely before her departure. 'For now,' she thought, 'I may as well join the cops as one to ensure the plan's success.'

...

Reika walked around in what she had started to call 'The dream realm.' Unlike before, though, the area was surrounded in darkness where the 'forest' that Kari had found her had been. As she moved further, the darkness seemed to get stronger and reveal despair and fear. Even death seemed present in the area. She shook her head. 'Kari... She's been hurt on several levels this night, and this is proof of it.' She didn't stop until she was in the epicenter of this dark aura that plagued Kari's dream realm, where the sobbing form of Kari was visible. She was wearing the same clothes as when Kari had battled the necromancer that invaded her house, the front stained with dust. "Kari..."

"Leave me alone..." she said between sobs, acknowledging the fact that Reika was there.

"No, I won't," Reika said, moving closer to Kari. "I'm not here to see if you changed your mind, if that's what you're thinking." Kari looked at her with one teary eye. "Even I am understanding enough to know when someone isn't even in their right state of mind, and your dream world is representing it."

Kari glared at her green haired look-alike as her tears still streamed down her face. "Understanding? Do you have any idea how bad I feel that my mother died by the hands of a black robed bitch?" Her fists clenched as she spoke. "My mother is dead, she was all I had left of my family!" She stared into her mirror's eyes in anger. "You can't possibly know how I feel because of it! I couldn't save her, and I have to live on knowing I couldn't."

"That is where you're wrong," Reika said. "You aren't the only one that feels like that. There are others that lose their friends, relatives, parents, even loved ones, not just you. Just like you, those people couldn't do anything but watch those they care for die before their very eyes. The only difference here is that barely any of them would see their parents waste to dust." Reika kept eye contact with Kari as she spoke, her tone of voice making it hard for Kari not to listen. She chose to get closer to Kari. "Back in otaria, my family died long before I did. They all were members of the Northern Order, and all were determined to fight and die for their cause. Instead, they died in the worse possible way." She waved her hand to the side, changing a portion of the dream realm to one of her personal memories.

The memory was within the fort of the northern order, and people were dying. Avens, nomadic soldiers dressed in the clothes of the order, and even civilians granted shelter screamed as they struggled to stay alive, but they weren't able to resist the magic that was washing over their bodies. Calcium formed over their bodies from the feet up, the screams ending only when the victim's lungs had also calcified or when the mouth could no longer move. In the mess, a young girl of about eight years old with green hair cried her eyes out and screamed as she saw the devastation caused by the Lieutenant's wrath as it killed everyone, and slowly started to claim her as well. She was dying as well, before a barrier was formed around her. When the barrier formed, the calcification that had already claimed her body dissipated, freeing her from the spell. She noticed this and looked around, noticing to her horror that it was her parents saving her life with a protection spell. It wasn't horrifying, but the fact that they only could use their spell to save their daughter from the deadly spell is what made it horrifying as the parents used what mana they had until their lives ended to ensure that their little girl would survive.

As Kari watched, she noticed something strange about the memory. First, she noticed that the girl almost looked like she did when she was that age. The other thing odd was the fact that the girl's mother looked like her own. She glared at Reika in anger. "What's the idea of doing this!" she yelled at the green haired woman. "Why did you place me and my mother into your memory!"

Reika looked at Kari. "That woman wasn't your mother," she said sadly as the memory started to wrap up. The spell and the barrier faded, and the girl ran to where her parents were. She tried calling them to see if they were faking it, only to cry in a ball at the statues feet as she realized it was for real. "Those two people you saw were my mother and myself." She looked away, hiding the fact that she was crying because of how painful that memory was. "In your case, this would be you and your mother in an alternate dimension, where Otaria and Dominaria are. Except that this had occurred years ago. I eventually died only about ten years later by the hands of a powerful Necromancer named Zenrik."

Kari looked at Reika dumbstruck by what she was being told. "T-this can't be right," she said as she turned away, some tears flying off her face as more still streamed. "You're lying!"

Reika looked at Kari, her own silent tears left unnoticed because Kari wasn't looking, then sighed. "I can't convince you otherwise, so how you see what I showed you is up to you. Just know that I lost my parents at a younger age as well as everyone I knew then. You and I aren't that much different in that respect, and don't leave out what Diron said to you before."

Kari snapped her head towards Reika, noticing the tears subconsciously. "How do you know what he said?"

Reika turned away. "I already accepted you as a part of myself, remember? I can hear everything and know pretty much everything you know." She turned back to Kari. "Oh, before I go, there is some information that Diron told me about the people that killed your mother. They're known as the Dark Omen, and they were after you because of me killing one of their necromancers after you where knocked unconscious by Hypnox. They were trying to either kill you or take you into their group, but Diron says they are a bad bunch to be with. Them killing your mother is proof of that, if you ask me. They only kill those that seem to be obstacles," she stopped, noticing the effect she was having on Kari with her words. "Sorry, I spoke out of line there," Reika said quickly before she started moving away.

"Where are you going?" Kari said in irritation as her tears still continued to stream, following slightly and grabbing Reika's wrist. "You said they kill obstacles. Are you saying that my mother was an obstacle?"

Reika didn't turn to Kari. "That is exactly what I'm saying," she said. "She probably tried to protect you from the necromancer and died trying, just as Diron's mother seemed to die." Kari's eyes widened as her grip on Reika's wrist weakened enough for the girl to shake her off. Kari stood there with her silent tears streaming down her face. "Just off the record, a Dark Omen existed on Otaria as well, but they were killed off by me along with Zenrik with my dying breath. I'm hoping this Dark Omen isn't the same, otherwise you and your friends are way out of your league."

"What are you saying now?" Kari asked.

Reika turned to her. "I know you want to handle this alone, especially without my help," she replied. "Even if you wish to do anything without accepting me, always remember that your friends will help you and that you all should be careful." She then turned away. "For now, just focus on getting over your mother's death, otherwise you'll do something reckless," was the last thing that she said before she left.

Kari just glared back at Reika. "Just do me one favor," she said to the retreating form, "LEAVE ME ALONE!" She then sat back down, confused about what to think thanks to Reika.

...

"Diron...DIRON!" Nick glared at the sleeping form of Diron, hating the fact that the wizard is a sound sleeper. Rolling his eyes, he gave the eighteen year old a swift kick in the side, waking the wizard up with ease.

"YOW!" Diron scrambled to his feet, rubbing his side in pain. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?"

"Your shift, dumbass," Nick said. "Three hours passed by already. Goodnight and hope you have an easy shift." Diron grumbled as the young sixteen year old sat down at a tree and fell asleep.

'Have it your way,' Diron mumbled as he sensed Nick's creatures dying out. He realized why. 'Guess its feeding time for the Strosis,'he thought as he sat down and summoned more creatures to act as a guard. He then grabbed the bag he had and pulled out a red marble, one that showed the miniature of a table. He focused his mana into the marble and tossed it to the side. Once the marble landed, it glowed red as the table formed and solidified on the ground. Once the magic was done, a wooden table was where the marble was, and Diron moved to it to get to work. He summoned a firecat near him to offer him the light he needed to see, then opened a drawer to reveal a collection of magic cards, including quite a few from the new Kamigawa set. He took out his deck and disassembled it into its base components as well as putting out several other cards.

He smirked as he took the swamp cards he needed. 'As much as I hate black with a vengeance,' Diron thought, 'I think it is time I envoke a little darkness.' With that thought fresh in his mind, he went to work on strengthening his deck along with giving him the ability to summon and use spells within it.

...

That is the end of this chapter. A big thanks to the proofreading staff is in order for this chapter, for my dad's laptop isn't capable of converting the chapter as I need it for posting. So far, no posts about character requests, so the characters that will be seen are still mine.

New Reviews:1

Talen Soti- thanks for the review, but some of that review applies to the proofreading staff as well, for their idea suggestions help move the story along as well as my own thoughts.

Not much more to say, aside from me starting a nearly futile search for Akroma from onslaught as well as the standard goal of further strengthening my own deck. Until next chapter then... 


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